Should I Seek Support for my child Now or Wait?

“Should we give it another quarter?”“Maybe my child just needs more time to mature.”Maybe reading will eventually click.”

I often hear these questions from parents, especially at the beginning of the school year.

And they are understandable questions. Children develop at different rates, and not every early struggle means a child has a reading disability.

But when difficulties with reading, spelling, sounds, letters, or language persist, research points to early identification and support rather than waiting for a child to experience repeated failure. The International Dyslexia Association specifically notes that identifying dyslexia should not become a “wait to fail” process and that persistent literacy difficulties can sometimes be observed as early as the first year of instruction.

What Does the Brain Tell Us?

One of the things I find most fascinating about reading research is what neuroimaging has shown us about the developing reading brain.

Researchers have identified differences in patterns of brain activation associated with reading difficulties, including differences that can be observed during the early stages of learning to read. (Shaywitz, B. A., Shaywitz, S. E., Blachman, B. A., et al. (2004). Development of left occipitotemporal systems for skilled reading in children after a phonologically based intervention. Biological Psychiatry, 55(9), 926–933.)

But here is the hopeful part: the brain is responsive to instruction.

Studies of children with dyslexia have found that successful, intensive reading intervention is associated not only with improvements in reading skills, but also with changes in patterns of brain activation during reading and language tasks.

In other words, we shouldn't look at a struggling reader and assume this is simply the way it is.

Effective instruction matters.

Waiting Can Affect More Than Reading

Another reason I believe we should pay attention when children consistently struggle is that the whole child matters.

For some children, repeated academic difficulty can begin to affect how they feel about themselves as learners.

Research has found higher levels of anxiety among children with specific learning disorders, although this type of research shows an association and does not mean that a learning disability automatically causes anxiety. (Haft, S. L., Duong, P. H., Ho, T. C., Hendren, R. L., & Hoeft, F. (2019). Anxiety and attentional bias in children with specific learning disorders. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 47(3), 487–497. )

As an interventionist, I care deeply about this.

Our goal isn't simply for a child to read a passage correctly or spell more words. We want children to experience success, develop confidence, and begin to believe:

“I can learn this.”

So, Should You Wait?

A few weeks of difficulty doesn't automatically mean something is wrong. But if you notice a consistent pattern, especially with foundational literacy or language skills, it's worth asking questions rather than simply waiting for maturity to solve it.

Seeking support doesn't necessarily mean seeking an immediate diagnosis.

It might mean talking with your child's teacher, reviewing assessment data carefully, requesting a screening, monitoring specific skills, or consulting a literacy professional who can help you understand what you're seeing.

And if additional instruction is needed, starting support early gives us a chance to teach the missing skills before the gap widens and before a child begins defining themselves by their struggles.

Reference:

Shaywitz, B. A., Shaywitz, S. E., Blachman, B. A., et al. (2004). Development of left occipitotemporal systems for skilled reading in children after a phonologically based intervention. Biological Psychiatry, 55(9), 926–933.

Haft, S. L., Duong, P. H., Ho, T. C., Hendren, R. L., & Hoeft, F. (2019). Anxiety and attentional bias in children with specific learning disorders. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 47(3), 487–497.